Estes Park town board to discuss LWV grant for bearproof trash

The League of Women Voters (LWV) will discuss the grant they received to purchase bearproof recycling containers at the next town board meeting Jan. 8 at town hall at 7 p.m.

Residents at the mayor's monthly coffee chat on Wednesday expressed the hope that the town will join with the LWV and Bears Are Us to purchase bearproof trash containers, to curb the trash problem that is vexing to humans and deadly to bears. However, town representatives at the coffee chat did not give the residents (or bears) much about which to be hopeful, citing budgetary and cost restrictions.

Bears Are Us members are mounting a letter-writing campaign to the town board, in anticipation of the discussion, and offering the following suggestions.

"We are hoping that these (containers) will be dual containers, with one side for recycling paid for by the League's grant and the other side for trash paid by the town," Susan Wolf of Bears Are Us said recently. "The Estes Valley Recreation and Parks District has already placed some bearproof trash containers around Lake Estes. Rocky Mountain National Park has also done a wonderful job with their bearproof containers. Many mountain communities in Colorado that are tourist towns have bearproof containers. We hope that Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, will join them. Bears Are us has been receiving such positive feedback from residents, businesses and guests concerning the newly formed Bear Education Task Force.

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We appreciate very much serving on this important Task Force."

Resident Diane Hunt said at the coffee chat that Bears Are Us is going to try to raise some money for the containers and asked the mayor if it would be all right for members to stand in front of the library collecting funds for the cause. Town representatives said they would need to research concerning public solicitation of funds and "pan- or bucket-handling (in this case)."

Mayor pro tem Eric Blackhurst said the issue of bearproof trash containers is multi-faceted and not as simple as it may sound. There is a committee working with the LWV on a matching grant, however the public works department said the option of containers that are only for trash is not a good one. The containers need to be dual-purpose -- one for recycling and one for trash, Blackhurst said. The cost for 24 such containers would be $37,000, he said. Bears Are Us needs to coordinate with the LWV on an effort for a solution, he added.

Last year, the town spent $55,000 to collect trash from the downtown area, Blackhurst noted. Perhaps it will be necessary to contact the contractor to discuss recycling and trash, he said.

In addition to the bearproof trash containers, residents need to consider the costs to the town in placing and maintaining them, Blackhurst pointed out. There are concrete pads that must be installed, and space for the containers must be provided, as well as power-washing to clean them.

Blackhurst said the budget for 2013 has already been set, and now there is a request for $23,000 for bearproof containers that has not been budgeted. That money would have to come from somewhere else and the board would have to figure out how to provide it.

"It's not an easy question," Blackhurst said.

For instance, it would cost about $156,000 to replace 100 trash containers in downtown alone, he said. If you go that route, you have to budget, and it would not just be a matter of an $18,000 grant or a $23,000 match, he said.

Mayor Bill Pinkham asked business owner Tony Paglia how he handled the bear problem downtown. Paglia said the bears were in his trash often. He talked with Waste Management and created his own bearproof container by drilling holes through the edges of the container that were then held in place by devices. That stopped the problem, he said.

"There are easy fixes," Paglia said.

Business owner Steve Nagl said that you have to give a little and take a little to solve the problem. He had constant bear issues, but found a way to position his trash container under the roof, so the bears can't access it well. Of course, now he said he can't put as much trash in the container, because he can't stomp down on it, but at least there are no bears.

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